What the police really believe: Inside the distinctive, largely unknown ideology of American policing — and how it justifies racist violence.

“That whole thing about the bad apple? I hate when people say that,” Rizer tells me. “The bad apple rots the barrel. And until we do something about the rotten barrel, it doesn’t matter how many good fucking apples you put in.” Fascinating story, that starts by focusing on Arthur Rizer, a former military police…

New Car

Wednesday morning my resourceful brother-in-law called me to say he found a great deal 3.5 hours from where I live. Our local dealer could not match the price. I hopped into a rental car, and drove home that night in a 2020 Hyundai Kona. Similar:Small Business Social Media 101: How To Get StartedUseful skills for…

Somewhere out there, somebody is working really hard to come up with a meme to blame this on the lying America-hating fake news media.

Front page of the Miami Herald newspaper, with two headlines circled: “Florida schools ordered to reopen in August” and “Miami-Dade restaurants, gyms closing to fight COVID surge” Similar:Carolyn performed as Ariel yesterday in the New Renaissance Theatre Company's production o… Carolyn performed as Ariel yesterday i…AmusingI'm no longer surprised, but still want to document.This is…

No, Trump’s tweet about “Heritage, History, and Greatness” is not a quote from a speech Hitler gave in 1939

Trump really did tweet “This is a battle to save the Heritage, History, and Greatness of our Country!” Plugging those words into Google Translate yields “Dies ist ein Kampf um die Rettung des Erbes, der Geschichte und der Größe unseres Landes!” I could be wrong, but I think Größe in German just means “physical size,”…

And to think… I had just decided to retire this meme because the last time I used in class, the students didn’t get it.

Similar:Pop song lyrics use more negative words ("hate", "sorrow") than 50 years agoThe use of words related to negative emo…EmpathyI regularly teach Uncle Tom's Cabin, but have never seen it before. BooksPerspective | Could ‘Ferris Bueller’s Day Off’ really be done? We found out. The three of us approach them in…AmusingFacebook Should Pay All of…

Summer photos of the daughter.

Similar:Breakfast Battle from "The Miracle Worker" (Pamela Lee as Annie Sullivan and Carolyn Jerz …Update: Here’s a clip of the whole break…CultureTop deck of a #neovictorian #steampunk cruiser needs an airlock at the top of the spiral s…    AestheticsDelightful #steampunk #neovictorian control panel. #blender3d #blender3dart #design #aesth…One of many steampunk control panels I’v…AestheticsHappy Sweet…

The Declaration of Independence

I recorded a recitation of the Declaration of Independence for WAOB Audio Theatre last year. They’ve released a remastered version. Similar:Interface (#StarTrek #TNG Rewatch, Season 7, Episode 3) LaForge, using experimental augmen…Rewatching ST:TNG The cold open featu…AmusingA Man, a Plan, a Pointless(?) ProgramI readily admit that my accomplishment h…AmusingIn November 2000, I was blogging about…

For God’s sake John, sit down!

Similar:Once On This Island (next weekend)Personal1 small shirt for a man, 1 giant leap backward for women: ColumnIdea for a scientist pull-cord doll: “Fa…Aesthetics"All for the Best" RehearsalHere’s a brief clip of a rehearsal of “A…AmusingWhy are we so bored?On average we spend six to seven hours i…CultureShakespeare's WillPersonalI just caught myself thinking, “This doesn’t…

Journalists who are doing their job by reporting fairly on a controversial topic often get attacked from both sides. 

Americans can fairly and legitimately differ on important values. Freedom or security? Peace or justice? Which short-term sacrifices are worth making, for which long-term benefits?

Most readers will nod along with whatever parts of a story affirm their values. A significant number will reject any story — even one that’s carefully sourced and fact-checked — if it challenges their world view. (“So biased!” “Fake news!”)

Whenever even the fairest-minded journalists tackle a high-stakes story involving groups with different levels of access to wealth, education, healthcare and personal security, any honest story they publish is going to make someone upset.

Ménage à Troi (#StarTrek #TNG Rewatch, Season Three, Episode 24) Lwaxana, Ferengi, Chess, and Poetry

Rewatching ST:TNG after a 20-year break. The teaser features Picard fibbing awkwardly to evade Troi’s mother Lwaxana, nicely setting up a later scene when he woos her with snatches of Shakespeare and Tennyson — first clumsily, then enthusiastically, as part of a ruse designed to… oh, nevermind why. Seeing Picard save the day with love poetry…

Both Sides in Journalism

Similar:The Sword of Kahless #StarTrek #DS9 Rewatch (Season 4, Episode 9) Kor invites Worf and Dax…Rewatching ST:DS9 Kor (the charismatic …AmusingIf Google+ Heads to the Grave, at Least It’ll Have DirectionForced Google+ integration in Google Rea…BusinessMe: Carolyn, are you ok? Carolyn:Just reminding myself that I am a gift.AmusingMicrosoft Publishes Garbled AI Article Calling Tragically Deceased…

I never have time to create materials like this during the academic year. Brand new handout. Easily 10 hours of work. Hoping to post one a week.

AP Style follows the standard English practice of capitalizing proper nouns. They stayed with Uncle John at Gracious Living Inn on the shore of Grenada Lake while on vacation in the South. Capitalize the names of particular people, places or things. (Proper nouns.)  In the above example, “shore” and “vacation” are common nouns. They stayed with my uncle at a hotel on the south end of a peaceful lake.…

Oh that sweet, sweet feeling of progress.

Similar:Prime Stage Theatre to end 2018-2019 season with Shakespeare comedy Twelfth Night, May 3–1…2019 Pittsburgh Public Theater Shakespea…CultureWhile searching my bag for a cable, I found an unexpected wealth of food-substitute items.AmusingStandardized Test Scores Don't Really Measure LearningThere are ways to raise a child’s test s…AcademiaI just realized I've been misspelling and mispronouncing "detritus" all…

Capitalists Tell Facebook They’ve Had Enough

It started as a murmur of dissent, but over the weekend the campaign to persuade brands to boycott Facebook ads for the month of July turned into a major crisis for the social media giant. It began badly on Friday when Unilever, one of the world’s biggest advertisers, announced it was joining the Stop Hate for Profit campaign, which had already been backed by Verizon, Patagonia, and Ben and Jerry’s.

After a pretty crappy day, I found shreds of joy in this clip of socially distanced salsa.

In my discipline, teaching small seminars typically depends on students sharing their weaknesses and vulnerabilities in pairs and small groups, gradually building trust while the teacher moves through the room, listening and joining in and backing away as appropriate. Masked students who are 6 feet away from each other will have to shout their failures…